Peru’s Congress removes President Boluarte as a crime wave grips the country
AP photo Richard Drew
Late Thursday, lawmakers in the 130-member unicameral Congress debated and held an impeachment trial after accepting four separate requests to remove Boluarte, citing her administration’s inability to curb crime. Congress asked Boluarte to appear before them shortly before midnight, but when she did not attend, legislators voted swiftly to oust her. By just past midnight, 124 lawmakers had voted in favor of her removal, with no votes against.
The impeachment followed a shocking shooting at a concert in Lima, which further inflamed public anger over rising violence. Unlike eight previous attempts to remove Boluarte, nearly all legislative factions supported this latest effort. Boluarte first assumed office in December 2022 after Congress used a similar process to impeach her predecessor, Pedro Castillo.
Congress President José Jerí, 38, a lawyer, was sworn in as interim president early Friday to serve out the remainder of Boluarte’s term. Peru is scheduled to hold elections next April, and Boluarte’s term had been set to end on July 28, 2026. Jerí promised to uphold Peru’s sovereignty and transfer power to the winner of the April vote.
Boluarte, Peru’s first female president, became the country’s sixth leader in under a decade. She assumed office to complete Castillo’s term after he was removed for attempting to dissolve Congress to avoid impeachment.
Her presidency was marked by widespread protests—more than 500 demonstrations demanding her resignation occurred in her first three months—and a series of scandals. The administration’s failure to control Peru’s persistent crime crisis ultimately led to her downfall. On Wednesday, Boluarte partially blamed the situation on undocumented immigrants, stating during a military ceremony that crime “has been brewing for decades and has been strengthened by illegal immigration.”
Official statistics show 6,041 people were killed between January and mid-August, the highest toll for that period since 2017. Extortion complaints rose 28% compared to the same months in 2024, totaling 15,989 cases.
The immediate trigger for the latest political crisis was Wednesday’s shooting at a concert by Agua Marina, one of Peru’s most popular cumbia groups, in which five people were injured.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Eduardo Arana defended Boluarte during a parliamentary hearing focused on crime, but his arguments did not sway lawmakers. “Parliament’s concerns are not resolved by addressing a request for impeachment, much less by approving it,” Arana told legislators. “We are not clinging to our positions. We are here, and we knew from the beginning that our first day here could also be our last day in office.”
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